The 2004 champions Tunisia and Angola sealed the last two quarter-final places at the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday.
The pair fought out a goalless draw in Tamale to head Group D which earned Tunisia, table toppers on goal difference, a quarter-final tie with four time winners Cameroon on Monday.
Angola have an equally tough assignment against defending titleholders Egypt the same day.
PHOTO: AFP
Down in Kumasi, South Africa drew 1-1 with Senegal, a result that brought the curtain down on their respective Cup campaigns.
South Africa went in front after 15 minutes through Elrio van Heerden before Senegal equalized in the 38th minute through Henri Camara.
World Cup hosts in 2010 South Africa finished bottom with two points, the same as Senegal who enjoyed a better goal difference.
As their Cup of Nations adventure ends, Tunisia and Angola have further business in Ghana.
They added their names to a quarter-final program comprising hosts Ghana, Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast, Guinea, Cameroon, five-time champions Egypt, and Nigeria.
While Tunisia are frequent visitors to the knock out stages, Angola are entering uncharted waters having fallen at the first hurdle on the three occasions they have made it to the finals.
Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves said his side's showing at the finals had put the country's soccer on the map.
"The best two teams in the group have made it. We're happy to survive this round for the first time in our history. Now Africa knows that Angola is a football nation," he said.
His Tunisian counterpart Roger Lemerre, the only manager to have won a European title, in 2000 with France, and the Africa Cup of Nations, with Tunisia, said: "It's a great feeling to be among the eight best teams. The most important thing was to qualify. We couldn't be sure of anything before the game, as South Africa and Senegal were still able to overtake us."
Lemerre, with an eye on Tunisia's next step on the road to winning back their title, said: "We're going to have to prepare now to go as far as possible. Cameroon's qualities are strength and force. Now it's all or nothing."
Tunisia and Angola had both issued declarations ruling out a cosy draw, the ideal result for both sides but that was what was produced in by no means the most enthralling game of the tournament.
In the crowd in Tamale to size up their quarter-final rivals were Samuel Eto'o and the rest of the Cameroon squad.
South Africa's Brazilian World Cup winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said there were positives to take out of their low key campaign.
"We are not happy with the result but we go home with some positives. This is a new team and my young players learnt a lot about football at this level," he said. "We will carry on with these players for the 2010 World Cup. In two years they would have gained the necessary experience to represent the country well at the World Cup."
Senegal coach Lamine Ndiaye said simply: "We did our best but unfortunately we are going home now."
Senegal were without El Hadji Diouf, Tony Sylva and Ousmane Ndoye, the trio handed a one match ban by caretaker coach Ndiaye as punishment for breaking a camp curfew and partying in a Kumasi nightclub this week.
Ndiaye stepped in to fill the void left by Henri Ksperczak, who quit after the loss to Angola "to kick start something in the team," unfortunately the Pole's dramatic gesture was not enough to save Senegal.
This 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is being acclaimed as the best yet and the goal tally of 70 (compared with 54 at the same stage in 2006) supports the view.
The competition resumes tomorrow with a full house expected at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra for Ghana's eagerly awaited quarter-final clash with Nigeria while, in Sekondi, Ivory Coast will take on Guinea.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier